Today, Wakayama is one of the most important cities in the Kansai region of Japan. It is home to nearly 400,000 people. If you climb to the top of Iwagami-yama, a small hill about 240 meters high, you can see its entire expanse. In the foreground, traditional Japanese houses blend with new skyscrapers; on the horizon, the smoking chimneys of the metallurgical industry; embracing everything, the Gulf of Osaka. It was here that, on April 20, 1851, a samurai family from the Kishu Tokugawa clan had a son, Torakusu Yamaha. As a child, he ran around the town with one obsession: watches. At that time, they were just beginning to become popular in Osaka. When he grew up, he ended up behind the counter of a watchmaker, a job he combined with his business studies. In class, no one knew they were sharing a classroom with the man who would later give his name to a true empire: Yamaha.